ryan.the.calvinist

Question:  Would you join a local congregation knowing you would be excluded from holding either office of deacon or elder? I am asking this question from a complimentarian view.  That is, I am against "eldressess" or "pastrixes" and see no biblical support for women holding such roles.  While on the topic, I *do* see the capacity of women to hold the role of deaconess.  But that is not what I am referring to.  The issue is not one of gender requirements; it is one of belief or conviction. I am Reformed (NO! REALLY?!??!).  I am also a convinced credobaptist, wishing to bestow the visible sign of the New Covenant to those who are actually members of that covenant - namely those who repent of sin and place their trust in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.  Are there false converts? Yes.  Credobaptists baptize many many many who are not truly of the the New Covenant, though they profess to be.  This is due to our inability to kn...

I hope I don't tick off my Presbyterian brothers... esp. since I like their churches (as a whole) generally more than Reformed Baptist ones... In light of my diving into Covenant Infant Baptism arguments, I found this defense from Dr. James White regarding Hebrews 8 and the New Covenant to be useful. He asserts that the Old Covenant was a mixed covenant - that the covenant sign was correctly administered to those whose hearts were changed (like David) and those whose hearts remained corrupt (like Ahab). The New Covenant, however, is not a mixed covenant.  ALL in the New Covenant know the Lord.  The text looks not to a future fulfillment, but is speaking as a present reality.  The New Covenant is better now; It won't be better later, it is presently better, in a similar way that Christ is a better mediator now, and the sacrifice of Christ is better now than the sacrifices under the Old Covenant. I must say, this is what I keep coming back to in my focus on ...

While things have been fairly quiet on the blog here, thoughts have been racing through my head of late. Particularly, thoughts relating to the New Covenant ... what is is... what the benefits are... and especially who makes it up: Is it comprised of believers only?  Or are nonbelievers included in this New Covenant as well? The Evangelical Presbyterian Church emblem. Growing up from a slightly Pentecostal and then a standard evangelical background, I grew up recognizing that the New Covenant was comprised of believers.  I have no recollection of learning anything to the contrary.  However, while investigating churches in the O'Fallon / St. Peters / St. Charles, MO area, my wife and I have spent the last month or so at Mercy Road Fellowship, an Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) plant near Mid Rivers Mall in St. Peters.  Aside from a small Acts 29 church plant of maybe 15 people, this is by far the smallest congregation I've been involved in on any capac...